Hero Of Sorts: Gunslinger's Revenge
by Madcinder
Summary: After E.V.E. destroyed the Starmada, the sole survivor (pictured in the thumbnail) crashes on Mobius. Finding that she has landed on the homeworld of Sonic the Hedgehog, who she blames for the devastation caused by E.V.E., she swears to carry out revenge on the heroic Hedgehog. At times, would-be villains would be heroes instead. Is it too late for revenge?
1. The Gunslinger

**That lovely lizard gal in the pic is the main character of this side story to Hero Of Sorts, a former member of the Starmada that appears in Sonic The Hedgehog issue #128. She is not given a name in the comic, so I gave her one myself. This story takes place between Hero Of Sorts: Synthetic Sister and the upcoming Hero Of Sorts: Kill The Messenger.**

* * *

Surviving isn't easy out in space. She found that out the hard way. The trick is knowing, of course, that planets are in space.

On day, it came. Her homeworld was torn apart, all its metal absorbed by the massive entity called E.V.E. that had become known as a harbinger of death to the whole universe. So few had survived, escaping the doomed world moments before E.V.E. appeared. Many of the fleeing ships were not fast enough and were dragged into the gravity well of the cosmic machine.

She could still remember the petrified screams of the refugees as her ship was torn apart. She had to wrestle her way past frightened innocents to acquire her own safety. There was nothing she could do, no time to save them, and they were too panicked to save themselves. She reached the escape pod and ejected just as the hull was compromised. She rocketed away from them, leaving them to their fate. She swore she'd find a way to destroy that monster.

Crash-landed on a barren world, she waited for the dim hope that anyone out among the stars would hear her distress signal. That was when _he_ showed up. Her savior in her time of need. Bagbar Breeblebrox and his ship, the Sentelle. He was ugly, and his name uglier, but he and the rest of his fleet, the Starmada, shared her mission. Together, they would destroy E.V.E. for good.

Things aren't always so simple.

* * *

This was the second time. E.V.E. had destroyed her home once again, her friends, her family. And it felt like she was the only one left. Again, the only one to escape. Bagbar was gone. Sentelle and the rest of the Starmada was obliterated. She'd barely managed to survive, crashing into another barren and lifeless world in another escape pod. Her clothes were tattered, her favorite hat was lost. Alone and unarmed on some desolate world, waiting for death and darkness.

She had no way of knowing if E.V.E. was still out there, or if Sonic the Hedgehog had survived his encounter with it either. At the end of four weeks, the sparse emergency supplies from the escape pod were all gone. It was a week later that she began to wish she hadn't also lost her gun. The world's atmosphere was toxic, so she was trapped inside, and that meant hunting would have been useless and dangerous. At the very least, she could have forgone what was next. She didn't look forward to slowly starving to death.

Starvation never came. Instead, _they_ did.

Horrendous, dastardly myriads. Claws and wings and fangs and spines in the most wicked of shapes, all forged out of nightmares and shadow. They took her off that waste of a world and imprisoned her on their flying fortress on their trek across galaxies. She had no way to know what they wanted her for, but it was a blessing in disguise, and she was good at seeing through disguises.

Escape from a barren planetoid with a toxic atmosphere is easier said than done. Escape from an alien prison is much easier. You know where to start. She started with the walls of her cell. It was all made from some dark stone. Stone is easy to break through when you know how, but there was no guarantee she wouldn't be breaking through to open space. So it was on to the bars, made from a purple energy that sparked and fizzed. This wouldn't be so hard.

She knew these bars were energy, and the apparent instability in them told her that their power source was inconsistent. Chaotic, even. They would flare up when more power came to them, and become thinner when less power was being produced. The lulls came immediately after a flare, more often than not, and during the lull there was much more space between the bars. Enough for her to fit through. She set her back against the far wall and waited for the bars to flare up again. The moment they did, she charged. When they became thinner soon afterward, she dived between them, twisting herself around so as to avoid touching them as much as possible.

These monsters had what looked like gunships docked inside their fortress. She made her way inside one and blasted her way out of the giant ship. Not fast enough to escape them, her stolen gunship took damage, and the engines exploded. She was sent careening downward to whatever strange new world awaited below. Wherever these alien creatures had taken her.

It had been years since she lost her home, and she'd all but forgotten what it was like to be on a world full of life. Staggering away from the crashed gunship, she found her way to the nearest settlement. Hardly able to hold herself up as she entered the small village, she ended up stumbling right into the arms of one of its inhabitants.

"Hold on there, darling. We'll get you safe."

She woke up, not knowing how much time had passed, laying on her side in a soft and warm bed for the first time in years. The smell of fresh food wafted through the air. Everything about this place pointed to her being safe, but she could never know that for certain. Space is never safe, and planets are in space.

There were voices coming from the other room. "It's groovy, man. She's hurt, and we nursed her back to health. Most people would be thankful after that."

"Well, I've dealt with enough folks to know that that's not always the case. If ya hadn't noticed, she's some kinda lizard or something."

She sat up and put her feet on the ground, listening to the voices. They were obviously talking about her, so she wanted to be sure if they were friendly or not. If they would help her or not. It wouldn't be too hard for her to bust her way out again if they weren't possible allies. They seemed far less dangerous than those shadowy aliens, and she'd made it out of there in one piece.

"Why don't we just go ask her? Even if she is completely ideologically opposed to us, she doesn't know that any better than we do. And helping people is always the right choice."

"You do remember where the Eggman came from, right?"

"So? She has neither the belly nor the mustache."

"That has nothing to do with-"

"No, wait, she's got a point. We're stuck for time too, so we might as well. I'm overruling the objection. Let's go see if she's awake yet."

It didn't sound like they had come to a conclusion that was bad for her. She stood up and pushed open the door to find out who she was a guest of. There were only four of them in the next room. She was sure she could beat them in a fight either way, but they just looked surprised that she was up and about so quickly.

"Where am I?"

The tall feathered one of the four stepped toward her. "You're safe. We got you in our HQ where no one can find you. We don't know who might be after you, so we thought it would be best to keep you in here while you recover."

The next tallest, an orange-brown furred creature, spoke next. "My name's Walt Wallabee, the leader of the Downunda Freedom Fighters. This is my crew." He introduced them one after the other. "This is Guru Emu. That's Wombat Stu. And finally, the one who brought you in here, Barby Koala."

Wombat Stu crossed his arms over his chest. "So, why'd you fall from the sky in a meteor?"

Barby shushed him. "We didn't ask her name yet." She turned to their guest. "So, uh… what's your name?"

"I'm Trillian. The last of the Starmada."

"Okay." Stu nodded. "So, why'd you fall from the sky in a meteor?"

She shook her head. "It wasn't a meteor. It's a gunship I stole from my captors before they shot me down. What planet am I on?"

The all looked surprised. Walt answered. "This is Mobius. You're from outer space?"

Guru Emu smiled. "Wild. Totally awesome. What's it like in the great expanse? Far out, right?"

Wombat Stu frowned. "If you were shot down, doesn't that mean they might come after you? Are we facing an alien invasion?"

Barby put her hands on her hips. "Well, I'll be. I know some people who would like to hear about this. What do you say we join forces for the time being."

But all she heard was the word 'Mobius'. She'd heard that name once before, from the mouth of one Sonic the Hedgehog. This was his homeworld, where he and that machine E.V.E. hailed from. He was here, somewhere. Countless worlds destroyed because he released E.V.E. to the universe. He was responsible for the death and destruction of everything she'd ever known.

She grabbed the nearest person, Walt, and shoved him away. She hadn't counted on being any stronger than these creatures, and so was caught off guard when Walt crashed through the wall and into the night. She took it in stride, but chose to hit a little softer from then on. She picked up Wombat Stu and tossed him at Guru Emu, sending them both tumbling out the door.

Barby jumped at her, swinging her clawed hand at their former guest. "You've got some nerve attacking your saviors!"

Trillian caught the Koala's wrist and twisted just enough to hurt. She grabbed Barby's throat and lifted her into the air. Pulling her close, she leaned in. Her slit eyes burned red. " _Where is Sonic The Hedgehog?_ "

* * *

 **Author's Note: It begins. The hunt for Sonic the Hedgehog begins. But... is there even a Hedgehog to find? Tune in next week to find out what the Downunda Freedom Fighters know.**


	2. The Jack

"My name is Trillian. I'm here to talk to Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Sonic? He's been dead for months! What rock have you been under?"

Trillian's eyes narrowed at the wooden door in front of her. "So everyone keeps telling me. You didn't see what I saw. You weren't witness… Something like him doesn't just die. Open this door and tell me where I can find him."

The door opened to reveal a tall canid Mobian. Sleuth Dawg. He looked down at the reptilian stranger. "I've seen that Hedgehog survive a lot of crazy stuff too, but everyone remembers the day he and the Doc both bit the big one. Trust me on this. He's long gone."

She reached up and grabbed his collar, dragging him down to her level and baring her fangs. "You listen here, you miserable cur. Sonic the Hedgehog is not dead until _I_ have killed him. He's _my_ duty. I've dug my way through every burrow hole and worthless village on this wretched little planet with not a trace of him. Tell me where he's hiding or I'll dig my way through your throat next!"

Sleuth put up his hands. "Save your breath. I'll give you the best you can get. Stop looking in the remote hideaways. He's not that kind of Hedgehog. You're looking for New Mobotropolis, which is a city. You can go check out his grave and dig up his corpse if you want. His family still lives there, and they can tell you how off you are."

She dropped him and walked away. Time was wasting. She returned to the vehicle she'd stolen from an encampment of creatures called Platypuses. The Freedom Fighters Downunda called it an Egg Saucer. She could see the resemblance to a saucer, but any likeness to an egg was lost on her. Perhaps it referred to some kind of egg she was unaware of, for some strange race she'd never encountered. Not that it made any difference to her.

Climbing aboard, she directed the Egg Saucer into the air and in the direction of the nearest major city. She knew the Dog had to be lying, but perhaps there was indeed something to the idea of contacting the Hedgehog's family. They needn't know her intentions, but she could certainly find out more about him there.

* * *

It was easier than Trillian expected, getting into New Mobotropolis. She was allowed passage through the city walls without so much as being searched. It seemed as though the walls and the impressive shield were only there to keep out those that would initiate attack long before breaching the city limits. This made it supposedly simpler to find her way in and seek out her target, but it made her uneasy all the same. She didn't like it when things were too simple.

Uneasiness aside, she found herself walking down a path in the park. She would be in the residential areas or in a government building if she could find them, but the writing was foreign to her and she couldn't tell the juice bar from the military barracks. She had noticed that people were starting to give nervous looks in her direction. A strange-looking, leather-clad, reptilian woman entering every building and looking around quickly before leaving for the next one was raising a few red flags in the more suspicious citizens' minds.

Taking refuge in the nature park, or possibly someone's private garden for all she knew, served to give her both time to rest and breathe fresh air, and for people to forget she was there. It also gave her a chance to find out who had been following her without risking these people who were most likely perfectly innocent. She found an isolated pond where a number of tiny blue creatures that were utterly foreign to her were flitting about and squeaking. Sitting down at the edge of the pond, she waited for her tail to show themselves.

"I can take a hint. You know I'm here. So let's get this over with."

Trillian looked over her shoulder to see what looked like the exact person she was after. For a split second, her eyes narrowed and her breath froze, but then the differences sunk in. If it was indeed Sonic the Hedgehog, then life hadn't been so good to him. His pure blue color had changed to primarily black, and a glowing gem rested embedded in his chest. All that was secondary to him now being completely robotic.

He stepped forward, putting his hands on his hips, or whatever he had instead of hips. "Either you suddenly don't know if you can win, or you're not here just to cause trouble."

She stood up and turned to face the machine. "What are you?"

He shrugged. "I'm Shard, but, uh… you didn't hear that from me." He pointed one of his metallic fingers at her. "What about you. What are you?"

"I'm pretty sure you just answered _who_ you are, not _what_. My name is Trillian. Now answer my actual question."

"Hmm. Okay, well, I'm a robot. If you couldn't guess, that is." He stuck his thumb at his chest. "The greatest imitation of the greatest Hedgehog ever. Although I'm sure you recognized who my design is based on."

"Sonic?"

"Naturally. So why don't you tell me what you're doing in the city? Vacation? Paying respects to the fallen Hero of Mobius? Or maybe you're looking for someone." He noticed her eyes narrowed at him on his third option. "So then, the question is, who are you looking for?"

If this thing was designed to look like Sonic, then it seemed to follow that he was directly involved in its creation. "I'm here to find your creator."

Shard took a step back, but didn't seem to be taking any offensive actions. He reached up and tapped the side of his head with a finger. "Ah, that's not gonna be easy. He bit the big one when aforementioned heroic Hedgehog spindashed through his airship. Huge explosion. Very pretty. Of course, I was trashed pretty bad long before that. Sonic's uncle, Sir Charles, rebuilt me and gave me… shall we say, a second chance at life. …eh, don't tell anyone I told you that. Technically, he wasn't allowed to fix me up."

Somewhere partway through his answer, she realized he'd just given her his life story. She discarded most of the information he'd divulged, as it wasn't important to her. "My mistake. I'm looking for Sonic the Hedgehog." Before he could tell her what everyone else had already told her, she held up a hand and continued. "Everyone I talk to says he's dead, but if you've met him before you should know how hard that is to buy."

Shard was stuck for a response. "Er… Umm… I really can't argue with that. Far be it from me to say people can't return from the dead. Just about everyone I know has done it. Sonic himself did it quite a few times. You have any good evidence that he's still out there somewhere? Cause, really, I can show you the grave, but there's no body buried there. That pretty explosion I mentioned before? He was caught in it too. But then again, last time he was caught in an exploding doomsday machine, it just sent him flying halfway across the universe. We probably should have waited another year before declaring him dead."

Trillian approached him, grabbing the machine's shoulder. "I need you to confirm this for me. Everyone here, in this city, actually believes Sonic the Hedgehog is dead. Right?"

He thought for a second. "Well… now you're making me question things, so… all but one. There might be a few more who refuse to accept it, but they probably just don't want to stir the pot, so to speak."

She pulled him closer, touching her forehead to his. "I need you to take me to the person who knew him best."

Shard grabbed her hand and tried to pull her off of him, but found that he wasn't strong enough. Somewhat perturbed, and a lot disturbed, he relented. "Well, there's a few options for that. The Freedom Fighters have been impossible to keep tabs on their location of late, and Tails has gone total AWOL. Sonic's family isn't as close as I'd imagine they'd like to be to him, either. So I think your best bet would be… someone who can usually be found in one place."

"Take me there."

It wasn't a request, clearly, as she was now lifting him off the ground. He could take a pummeling, and he was sure he could take one from her even, but it wouldn't hurt to help her out. He had nothing else to do at the moment, anyway. "Alright, alright. I'll take you to see Knuckles."


	3. The Ninja

As it turned out, the Egg Saucer was more help than just quick transit. With its ability to hover came access to the strangest phenomenon she'd seen on Mobius. A floating island, big enough to hold several cities and myriads of wild lands where any number of mysteries could be hidden. The destination she had in mind was at the edge of the island, a tiny little island barely connected to its parent island. Shard led the way, propelled by the rockets installed on his person.

She'd been thinking about this whole business of killing Sonic. It was going to be more difficult than she'd initially anticipated if everyone on this planet saw him as nothing but a hero. If she found him and then succeeded in her stated mission, she would then have everyone in the entire world after her head. Considering that he was presumed already deceased by most of the populace, there was still at least a possibility of taking him out without anyone ever knowing he'd survived.

That was, of course, assuming that he wasn't actually dead as everyone else seemed to think. What Shard had said on the matter made it even more clear to her that she was right and they were wrong. He'd escaped death, in the same way he was thought to have died now, more than once. It was no great leap of imagination to think he had survived again. Though the way Shard had put it, it sounded like there may be a waiting period of unknown length.

They approached the small island, and she could see a sort of altar topped by a large green gem. She had no illusions about how much it would be worth, but that thought was far from the front of her mind. It looked expensive, but more than that, it looked important. Shard was kind enough to explain, landing in the Egg Saucer beside her.

"That's the Master Emerald. A giant Chaos Emerald with an endless supply of energy. It keeps all of Angel Island in the air. Removing it would be very bad."

Trillian narrowed her eyes at the small red figure sitting on the steps up the altar. "Is that your guardian?"

"Yeah. Bit of a hot head, but he's a good guy. The Chaotix might be around somewhere too. They're alright."

Knuckles saw them coming, and he didn't seem too pleased. He looked ready for a fight. Trillian wasn't sure that she wanted to be walking into a fight with someone she didn't know anything about, but Shard seemed to be calm. A thought flashed through her mind, that Shard might have called ahead and this was a trap. She landed the Egg Saucer across the wooden bridge that attached the small island to the floating landmass, and they both hopped out.

Shard waved across the gap to the guardian. "Hey, Knuckles. How's it going?"

"Depends on what you want." He seemed pleasant enough.

Shard motioned to Trillian. "This lady would like to talk to you about Sonic."

"Yeah? And am I supposed to trust you after you float up in an Egg Saucer looking like a Metal Sonic?"

Shard shrugged. "I mean, you don't have to. My loyalty lies with the Kingdom of Acorn, but more specifically with Uncle Chuck."

A purple reptilian appeared suddenly, seated on the ground beside Knuckles like he had been meditating. He didn't even open his eyes. "You can trust Shard, at least. I have no idea who she is."

"Thanks, Espio." Knuckles patted him on the shoulder.

Shard waved over at him. "Thanks Espio!" He looked back to Trillian and stuck his thumb towards the 'new' arrival. "That's one of those Chaotix I mentioned. Espio the Chameleon. He's a ninja."

Knuckles let out a long sigh. "Well, if you're not after the Master Emerald, then I could always use the company. Come on over."

Walking across the crude bridge, Shard led Trillian over to Knuckles and Espio. He narrowed his electronic eyes at the Echidna. "You're taking this remarkably well. You feeling alright? Lick anything strange recently?"

Trillian didn't want to waste any more time. She butted past Shard and confronted Knuckles. "Sonic the Hedgehog. Dead or alive?"

Knuckles was taken aback. He didn't look too happy with the line of questioning, but he didn't appear to get more than mildly upset. "Dead."

Espio, eyes still closed, answered as well. "Unconfirmed."

Knuckled looked down at Espio. "Unconfirmed? What do you know that I don't?"

"I said 'unconfirmed'." Espio finally opened his eyes. "That means I _don't know_ what you 'know'."

Trillian turned to Espio. "But you have reason to doubt that he's dead. Why?"

The Chameleon let out a sigh. "It's my job to learn secrets that no one else knows and keep them to myself. Why are you looking for Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"He is responsible for destroying my homeworld among countless others. Billions of lives lost across the universe, all because of him. I'm here to exact vengeance."

There was a deep silence over the island.

Shard coughed. "She didn't tell me that part."

Knuckles stepped closer to her. "Isn't honesty supposed to be refreshing? Cause I'm not feeling all too refreshed." He poked a gloved finger at her chest. "Realize that the entire population of this planet owes its lives to Sonic several times over. He was our friend, and for most of us, our hero. Even his greatest enemies couldn't have lived this long without him."

"And yet here you all are. Either he's not as essential as you all think, or you haven't encountered a real danger since his supposed demise. Just wait and see. Next major disaster, he'll show up. And I'll be waiting for him. But…" She batted his hand away. "I don't like waiting, so until then, I'm looking for him. Whatever rock he's under, cavern he's hidden away in, or pocket dimension he's found, I'm coming for him, and I'll tear this world apart looking for him if need be."

Espio looked up at her. "And you're sure it wasn't Scourge, or some other evil Hedgehog? Because, they tend to pop up more often than you'd expect."

Shard pointed at himself. "Case in point. I was evil at first."

Knuckles threw up his hands and walked away. "Forget it. I'm not helping you."

Waiting until Knuckles had stormed out of earshot, Espio stood up. He nodded to Trillian. "I understand your dilemma. I won't help you kill Sonic, but I'll help you find him if you hear him out in the event we do find him alive."

Trillian glared at him. "What? You expect a change of heart? You think he can just explain it to me and I'll decide not to kill him? That it wasn't his fault?"

"It's happened before."

"Hmph."

Shard raised his hand. "Okay, I'm in. Let's find out for good what happened to the Hero Of Mobius."

Trillian had no doubt she could defeat this Chameleon in a fight, but that wouldn't help her get the information she wanted. If it was his stated duty to keep secrets, he wouldn't give up anything she needed to know unless he thought he could trust her with the information. She didn't want to do it, but she could always go back on her word later.

"Fine. I'll hear what he has to say."

"Good." Espio started walking back across the bridge. Shard followed him.

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now, but they appeared to be headed for the Egg Saucer. "Where are we going, then?"

Espio effortlessly leaped into the Egg Saucer. "Where else? The Northern Tundra."

Shard stopped just short of the vehicle. "Wait, the Northern Tundra? I don't know if my circuits can deal with the cold."

Espio fixed him with a blank stare. "You're traveling with two reptiles. Trust me, I know it's not going to be easy."

"So why are we going there?"

Catching up to them, Trillian stopped beside Shard. "The Northern Tundra is cold. I'll be vulnerable."

"We'll make contact with the Arctic Freedom Fighters." Espio explained his reasoning. "If you want to understand Sonic's ability to survive, you'll want to see where the Xorda attacked with their super weapon. The Arctic Freedom Fighters can get us there safely."

Shard nodded. "Okay, yeah, I get it. History lesson time." He saw that she didn't follow. "Ah, the Xorda tried to destroy Mobius. Sonic saved the world by destroying their Quantum Dial, but the explosion tossed him across the universe. …Maybe that's how you came across him. Anyway, we all thought he was dead for about a year after that. Then one day, he shows up again. Surprise."

"And there's a slim chance, considering what kinds of projects Eggman keeps on his ships, that the same thing happened this time. He had gone Super as well, which definitely increases his chances of survival." Espio nodded. "So maybe we'll learn something there. No one's been to the site since then."

Trillian climbed into the Egg Saucer and sat down. "Alright, alright. Let's go."


	4. The Ace

As it turned out, the Egg Saucer was the first to go. It was old and cheaply made, its circuits freezing up and dying. Thankfully, the Arctic Freedom Fighters showed up with gear for the cold climate just before it looked like Trillian and Espio would freeze to death. Really, it was just Erma and Flip.

Once the two reptiles were covered in thick coats that would help keep them warm, the trek continued with their two new guides. They were skeptical about taking an absolute stranger and what looked like an Eggman robot anywhere, but Espio proved useful in convincing them to help out.

It was scaling a ridge that was supposed to take them to their destination that Shard decided to speak up. "Espio, help me out here. I think there's something wrong with the information in my databanks. Why are we at the Northern Tundra again?"

Espio didn't bother to hide the sigh he let out. "You want to see the Quantum Dial, right?"

"Yes, but…" Shard looked uncomfortable, or at least as uncomfortable a robot could be. It made Trillian uncomfortable as well. Shard continued. "Unless my databanks got scrambled somewhere along the way without my noticing, didn't the Xorda drop the Quantum Dial on the Southern Tundra?"

Trillian whirled around. "What?! The Southern Tundra? As in the exact other side of the fucking planet?"

Espio held up his hands. "Stop. Hold on. Let me explain. There's no safe way to approach the Quantum Dial in the Southern Tundra. We have to approach it from the other side."

Trillian grabbed the front of his heavy jacket. "The other side of the planet? How the hell are we supposed to do that?"

Erma appeared, grabbing Trillian's shoulder. "Do you even understand what the Quantum Dial did to this planet? Just follow us and you'll see what he means."

Flip stood at the top of the ridge and called down to them. "We're here, if you're wondering."

Releasing Espio, Trillian stormed up the rest of the way, scaling the ridge with ease. Standing at the top, she looked down at a truly unique sight. There was a hole in the world. A large, black, void of a hole shaped like a thin wedge. There was no way to see how deep it was, but Trillian doubted it could take them through the entire planet.

"Erma contacted me when she first found it." Espio nodded to Erma. "I had her conduct some experiments with it. For the first few years, we focused on whether or not it was safe for her to get close to it."

Erma started walking down the other side of the ridge. "And more recently he's been asking me to drop things through it. We think it could be instantaneous transport to the Southern Tundra. But we haven't tested it on anything alive, and there's no way to tell what comes through because we can't get close to the other end. We're not even sure what the Quantum Dial looks like right now. It could have completely imploded or it could just have been disabled."

Espio nodded, following her down. "Which is why we do need to get close to it. If it's in any sort of state where it can be repaired, we need to know. We cannot risk the possibility of the Quantum Dial being reactivated."

Trillian wasn't moving from the ridge until she got a clear answer. "So you want me to go through and see if I live? Is it even safe to get close?"

Erma shook her head. "There's not really any other choice."

Espio looked back up to Trillian. "I'm going in if you are. Shard, are you in?"

Shard shrugged. "I'll take that leap. Might as well."

Flip, not entirely sure what was going on, just patted Erma on the back. "I'll, uh… just keep watch. Good luck, guys."

Erma patted him back. "Good. You stay here. I'll see these guys through."

The four of them made their way down to the hole. It took them nearly an hour to make the trek, and by the time they were standing at the edge of the void, staring into the black, the cold was starting to seep through their clothes and effect them. Trillian picked up on it that even Erma and Shard were beginning to succumb.

She stood apart from the others. "Are you cold?"

Erma nodded. "Yes. The anomaly has the effect of lowering the temperature about twenty degrees. If we intend to make it through, we can't wait around. We have to go now or we'll freeze to death before we can get away from the other side."

Trillian narrowed her eyes at Erma. "That's if it truly will transport us to the other side of the planet. But you don't know that it will, do you?"

She shook her head. "No, but your other options are turn back or freeze to death on this side."

Trillian looked to Espio and Shard. "You told me that when Sonic the Hedgehog destroyed the Quantum Dial, it threw him across the universe. What's to say if we go through this we won't end up a million lightyears away too?"

Espio sighed. "You do have a point."

"Yeah, but let's consider the luck of the Hero of Mobius and how everything seems to always conspire to make events turn out in his favor." Shard took a few steps closer and peered into the black. "There's a possibility that jumping in here will transport us to wherever he's been since Eggman and he bit it."

Trillian watched the others shiver from the cold. It would soon get to the point where they would stop being able to operate reliably. She had to make the call, and backwards was not an acceptable choice. She nodded to Erma. "You go first. If at all possible, come back through so we know it's safe."

"Wait, why me?" Erma motioned toward Shard. "Shouldn't the robot do it?"

"No. You go through first. If you don't come back after a minute or so, he'll go next." She pointed at Espio instead of Shard.

Espio looked just as confused now. "Why are we going first?"

"Because I trust the machine more than either of you, and I know I can beat it. I don't know either of you."

Erma threw her arms up in the air. "Fine! I'll go! Geez!" She stepped over to the edge of the void and looked back to Espio. "I sure hope I live to be upset about this." Taking one more step, she dropped into the black, vanishing instantly.

Espio turned to Trillian. "I don't think we should wait. With this cold, we don't have enough time."

She grimaced. "Fine, go."

Espio jumped in next.

Shard shrugged. "That was simple enough. Just a thought, but it doesn't seem you've quite caught on to the whole thing where, as a reptile, the cold slows you down and makes you hibernate. Why is that?"

Trillian just growled at him. "I hate the cold, it hurts, and it slows me down a lot, but I won't hibernate. I'm still more than capable of taking you on. It's like I said. The cold will make me vulnerable. It won't stop me, though."

"That's good to know. Should I go in now?"

"…Together. There's no reason to stay waiting here."

They stepped into the black together.

Trillian felt heavy, like something was pulling her in a strange direction. She reached out her hand to find if anything was around her. Wherever this pure black place was, it's where the void in the Northern Tundra had sent her. She waved her arms around a bit before catching her hand on something made of metal. Grabbing it and pulling it closer, she found that it was Shard. He prodded her with his fingertip, finding and putting his finger on her mouth. He was telling her to be quiet.

They weren't floating in space. That much was clear. She wasn't being ripped apart by the vacuum and void, and there were no stars to speak of. Her eyes were pretty much useless. It was almost like they were closed. She turned to her other senses. The temperature was low, but not nearly as cold as where they had come from. She couldn't hear anything, and her sense of touch seemed even more useless. She should have been able to at least feel her clothes, but it was like that sense had been disabled. It struck her that maybe they all had been disabled.

They weren't disabled. Or, at least, not all of them. She smelled the air, which was clearly air, as she was breathing it. It was old-smelling. Musty and stale. She disregarded the smells that were clearly Shard, Espio, and Erma, focusing instead on the smell that reminded her of a swamp. Almost like rotten fruit. Her tongue flicked out of her mouth, tasting the air. There was something else there. A slight touch of something familiar. She was just about to put a memory to it when a light cut into the darkness.

They had been floating in a spherical chamber devoid of gravity, and the solid black outer shell was sliding back to reveal what was around them. There was a huge machine, glowing red and purple, attached to the top and bottom of the chamber. That was the strange sensation. She felt like she was being pulled both upwards and downwards simultaneously.

Outside the chamber, someone began slowly clapping. He stepped out of the shadows and looked up at them like they were a prized catch. "Truly amazing. I had hoped to catch Shadow the Hedgehog when I built this gravity well generator, but it appears as though he doesn't teleport far enough for it to effect his Chaos Control. I've been settling for less interesting catches, and some of them have proven almost quite interesting."

Trillian recognized the coloration on the creature before them. "No, not again."

He smiled and continued. "Of all the people to catch, though, I have a hard time believing it would be you. What are you doing using portals and such? Oh well, it doesn't matter that much. We weren't very good hosts the last time you were with us, but this time you will have my full attention. We won't let you escape again."

Shard was concerned, to say the least, but he wasn't sure what was going on. "Uh… let's start with who are you and where are we?"

"I am Eclipse, and you are on the Black Comet."


End file.
